Tribal Salmon Culture
How salmon connect religion, culture, and daily life for the Columbia Basin tribes. This excerpt uses the opening of the page and five of its points. It leaves out the other points, the quotes from tribal leaders, and the sections that follow.
This page is a simplified version of the original text (leveled toward 800L). Photos, maps, and other images are not on this page — use the original link above to see them.
Words with a dotted underline have a Word Help card pinned beside the paragraph.
Salmon have long been the symbol and lifeblood of the people who call the Pacific Northwest home. Columbia Basin salmon play an important role in the ecosystem of the region. They return ocean nutrients to the rivers and streams where they were born. They feed wildlife and even the forests with their bodies.
For thousands of years, salmon also shaped the lives of the people who have lived here since time immemorial. Salmon shaped the cultures, the interactions between tribes, the fishing technologies, and even the religions of the Pacific Northwest tribes. These fish have been important to the region’s economies for thousands of years. This is true from the ancient Indian trade routes to modern commercial fishing.
Salmon are an important part of tribal religion, culture, and physical sustenance. Below are some of the many ways salmon are sacred to the Columbia River Basin tribes of the Pacific Northwest:
- Salmon are part of our spiritual and cultural identity.
- The salmon return every year, and the tribes celebrate it. This helps make sure that human life and all other life is renewed and continues.
- In the past, we were wealthy peoples because our trade economy, based on salmon, was flourishing.
- Salmon and the rivers they use are part of our sense of place. The Creator put us here where the salmon return. We must stay and protect this place.
- Each year’s salmon harvest lets us pass our traditional values from one generation to the next.